


broken men and unbeating hearts (cold again with shattered parts)

by Forestfire34720



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Nightwing (Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bad Ending, Brainwashing, Character Death, Conditioning, Court of Owls, Dark, Dark Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson is a Talon, Dick Grayson-centric, Gen, Heroes to Villains, Hurt Dick Grayson, Hurt No Comfort, Loss of Identity, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:09:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25038259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Forestfire34720/pseuds/Forestfire34720
Summary: “Talon kneels before them, the Owl and the Talon.His master and superior. His elder and predecessor.He does not need to see their faces to know they are smiling.‘Welcome home, Gray Son.’ ”In which when the Court of Owls comes for Dick again, he does not escape.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 145





	broken men and unbeating hearts (cold again with shattered parts)

**Author's Note:**

> I am aware that "unbeating" is not an actual word. I am also choosing to ignore this fact because I like the sound of it in the title.  
>    
> Warning: Major character death. Like, a lot. And big time. Also loss of identity.

He wakes up cold and hollow. Changed.

The burning in his veins has been replaced by a cold heaviness. His senses, conversely, are keener than they have ever been. His muscles react with blinding speed. He can taste the staleness of the air. See into the dark shadows. Feel the lingering cold and the un-beating heart in his chest. Hear twin pairs of breathing, one swift with excitement, one near-silent and carefully controlled.

Talon looks up and sees two people standing above him.

One with a white mask, prideful and commanding. His Grandmaster, whose identity he does not know but does not need to know to carry out orders. He does not love his Grandmaster, but neither does he feel hatred. He does not feel anything, only a sharp awareness that he is to obey all of his Grandmaster's commands. Talon is a weapon, and weapons do not feel.

One with a black hood, deadly and quick. His ancestor once, his great grand-father, Talon remembers distantly, back when Talon had been Dick Grayson and the other Talon William Cobb. Now they are both Talon; nothing more, nothing less.

Talon kneels before them, the Owl and the Talon.

His master and superior. His elder and predecessor.

He does not need to see their faces to know they are smiling.

"Welcome home, Gray Son."

* * *

His first assignment is a newspaper author, advocating for causes of which his Grandmaster disapproves. His coworkers take the hint and turn in more favorable directions, and Talon does not return to kill them as well.

His second is a drug dealer who had somehow wronged an Owl. He attempts to flee the inevitable retribution, and Talon hunts him down just outside Gotham. On the Owl's order, he makes a gruesome example of him and deposits the body in the heart of the city's criminal underground.

His third _is_ an Owl, a lowly one that is causing too much dissent among the ranks. Her death leaves the others nervous and fearful, newly aware of their tenuous place within the Court.

Talon slits all their throats without hesitation. The city's vigilantes try to track him down, but even they cannot find his dark shadow in the night.

* * *

When his Grandmaster sends him after the Titans, he infiltrates the Tower with ease. The memories of another man come clear and free of emotional attachment. He studies thoroughly what he remembers of the defenses and establishes a plan of attack, exploiting a weakness that was to be fixed but has not as of yet.

As it turns out, it is unnecessary. Talon is changed, but not so changed that the Tower does not recognize who he used to be. It grants him access on his first attempt, and he simply walks through the front doors. The majority of the Titans are gathered in the communal room. They face him when he enters, and when they see him standing there in his uniform, there are sharp gasps and soft cries, but less shock than expected.

They already know he is here. Talon's eyes flick toward Cyborg and the answer comes not a second later. He is connected to the Tower itself. He knows who enters and who leaves, and Talon assumes he took notice when the Tower admitted a man who, to them, has been missing for a long time. A man who is now dead.

Talon steps farther into the room, silently calculating.

"Dick?" Flash whispers, and he is suddenly right in front of Talon. "Is that really you?"

He removes the hood with trembling hands. Talon tilts his head and lets him, for reasons he is not quite sure of. Flash inhales sharply when he sees Talon's eerily pale skin, his prominent black veins, his empty golden eyes. The other Titans stiffen in wide-eyed surprise, and Flash looks at him with heartbreak in his gaze.

Flash is very fast. In that instant, Talon is faster.

A head hits the ground. The body follows a moment later.

"Wally!" Arsenal shouts, and an arrow suddenly whistles toward Talon's face. Arsenal looks shocked at his gut reaction — at how swiftly he shoots to kill when confronting the face of his old friend — but Talon just catches it without blinking and, with a flick of his wrist, sends it hurtling into Beast Boy's stomach.

"No!" Wonder Girl screams, and Troia stares at him with unbridled horror in her eyes. So does everybody else.

In one quick motion, Talon draws his weapons and strikes.

They fight back with grief.

They plead for him to stop.

They scream in despair.

They die.

Talon walks away and feels nothing.

* * *

A week later, Talon fights Red Robin. The other stares at him, in disbelief and then grief and then heartbreak.

"Dick," Red Robin breathes.

"Timothy Drake. The Court of Owls has sentenced you to die."

"I thought Oracle was wrong," Red Robin murmurs, shaking his head. Talon cannot see his eyes behind the lenses of his mask, but his face is pinched in a telling way that says he is trying not to cry. "I thought she must've made a mistake somewhere because that couldn't possibly be you in a million years. But she was right, wasn't she? You... you killed the Titans, Dick, didn't you?"

Talon silently unsheathes his knives.

"What happened to you, Dick?" Red Robin pleads. "You vanish for months and then this! What could drive you to kill my friends, _your_ friends?"

"The Court of Owls has sentenced you to die," Talon repeats, and lunges.

Red Robin defends himself, but he does not attack. He continues talking throughout the fight, pointed questions and desperate appeals. He thinks he's speaking to Dick Grayson. He thinks he can get through to a dead man.

Talon hears but does not listen.

When Red Robin tries to grapple away to safety, Talon cuts his line. It ends with a broken body on the cement below.

* * *

Talon lands on the rooftop with barely a rustle. Robin, crouching at the edge and keeping watch on the streets below, whips around, cape flaring, sword already in hand. He tenses when he sees Talon and steps down from the edge. His body is taut with angry fear, but there is no trace of it when he speaks.

"Are you here to kill me too, like you killed the Titans?" Robin asks coolly. "Like you killed Drake?"

In answer, Talon states, "Damian Wayne. The Court of Owls has sentenced you to die."

Something in Robin's eyes burns. He glares at Talon, his face twisted into a scowl, his body oozing defiance. Talon can hear his gloves creaking from his tight grip on his sword.

"Take off that infernal hood," Robin demands, and Talon acquiesces. It makes no difference to Talon whether his face is bare, and his target is already aware of the name he was born with.

Robin's jaw tightens. Then he lifts his chin, looking him straight in his golden eyes. With a swift motion he's tucked his sword away and opened his stance. Showing trust in a harbinger of death. Hope in a man he once knew. Dick Grayson would have been proud. Talon thinks it is a sentimental decision, and a fatal one.

"I will not fight you, Richard," Robin declares stoutly.

"Then you will die," Talon says simply.

True to his word, Robin does not fight.

Talon thinks his death is the only one for which he has felt regret.

* * *

In a reversal of roles, Red Hood is the one to hunt Talon down. He appears just as Talon is finishing another assignment, bristling with blades and bullets, twin guns in hand. An imposing sight, but Talon is not intimidated.

Talon kills his intended target with the flash of a blade and rises to face him. His helmet conceals his expression, but Talon sees grief and fury and determination in his set of his shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Dickiebird," Red Hood says, and he sounds like he truly means it. "But you need to be put down."

"Leave," Talon says flatly. Red Hood is not his target and Talon has no obligation to kill him at the moment.

"No," Red Hood growls. "You killed the Titans, you killed Replacement, you killed the Demon Brat. I didn't like any of 'em, but hell if I wanted them dead. I don't care what it costs me, so long as you don't get to kill anyone else."

Talon tips his head at him and reads Red Hood's intent clear as day. So he doesn't bother with any more warnings.

Red Hood doesn't hold back in the least. Neither does Talon. Guns against knives. Bullets against blades. Two killers giving their all. A real, desperate battle, one that can only end in one of their deaths. It is a challenge, different than the others; Red Hood is the only one who has aimed to kill.

In the end, Talon is better.

* * *

Talon's mission to kill Batman is like any other. He is unable to access the cave, Batman having already locked him out, so he ambushes him the moment he steps out for patrol.

Batman twists out of the way of his killing blow, already falling into a battle-ready stance. Talon lightly flips away, landing catlike on the ground. Batman takes him in, and something in his posture tightens. His jaw clenches. His feet shift.

Batman knows his protégés are dead at Talon's hand, Talon is sure of it. Batman still gives his own useless attempt at reaching Dick Grayson. It is rather tiring how they all do this, but Talon has fulfilled all his assignments, so it does not make a difference.

"Stand down, Dick," Batman orders in the same tone the Owls use, but he is a target and targets do not give Orders.

Talon ignores him; he is not his Grandmaster anymore. He prowls closer, gaze darting around for exploitable weaknesses.

"Dick!" Batman shouts. "I know you're in there! Fight it!"

A futile plea. There is no conflict inside him. Talon knows what he is to do.

"Dick Grayson is dead," Talon intones emptily. "Only Talon remains."

"I don't believe that!" Batman insists. "Dick, you don't want to do this. Fight back! Fight back and come home. Please."

Dick Grayson would have obeyed Batman. Talon does not falter. He leaps forward and attacks, claws out, aiming for the neck. He strikes with a cold lethality, intent only on fulfilling his master's commands. Dick Grayson would have obeyed Batman.

Dick Grayson is dead.

Three hours later, so is Batman.

* * *

Talon returns to the Court cold and hollow. Successful.

He carries the awareness that he has succeeded. He has accomplished his Grandmaster's commands. He feels nothing now; not sorrow nor regret for his targets' fates; not satisfaction nor contentment for pleasing his Grandmaster; not bitterness nor anger for being changed in such a way that he did all this without hesitation.

Talon is a weapon, and weapons do not feel.

He is a Talon, nothing more, nothing less.

Two people wait for him, one with a white mask, one with a black hood. Their bodies sing with triumph. They are relaxed and pleased with him, pleased with his compliance and his work.

Talon kneels before them, the Owl and the Talon.

His master and superior. His elder and predecessor.

He does not need to see their faces to know they are smiling.

"Well done, Gray Son."

Talon closes his eyes.

"Thank you, Grandmaster."

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts? Questions? Suggestions?


End file.
